Unexpected Changes
by sugarcult-xD
Summary: When Harry is awarded a scholarship to attend Hogwarts High, he expects everything to be the same as life at Privet Drive. Little does he know, he will meet many new people who prove all his expectations wrong and change his life for the better.Nonmagic


Okay, Chapter One.

A harsh ringing filled Harry's ears and a low groan escaped his lips as he rolled over in his bed. When the noise continued, Harry's eyes slowly blinked open. Letting out a frustrated grunt, he wildly threw his arm out and turned off the alarm clock. Immediately the ringing stopped and he let out a sigh before slowly rolling out of bed. Groggily, Harry dragged himself to the mirror.

Staring back at him was a teenage boy with vibrant green eyes clouded with sleep. The thing that really caught Harry's attention however, was his hair. An uncontrollable mop of pitch black hair flopped down onto his face. Frowning, he attempted to smooth it down but gave up quickly. His hair had always been wild after all, no matter how much he tried to tame it down. This look suited him anyway.

Harry stared at himself for a moment longer, before turning away to look at the packed suitcase in the middle of the room. It was a very small suitcase, that was only about half full as Harry didn't have many possessions.

Today was Harry's first day at his new school. – Hogwarts High. It was an extremely prestigious school in the heart of London. Harry had been accepted with a scholarship, and as soon as his guardians –The Dursleys had caught wind of the fact that they could get rid of Harry without paying a penny, they had been all for it.

Harry would have been delighted to leave the Dursleys, but the downside was that his cousin, Dudley, was to attend the same school. After all the Dursleys could not allow Harry to go to a better school than their precious Dudley.

As if on cue, there was a loud pounding on Harry's bedroom door.

"Hurry up, Potter!" Came the sneering voice of Dudley. Harry shot a half-hearted glare at the door, before sighing and quickly changing into his new uniform. It consisted of black pants, a white shirt and a striped tie. Despite the shirt being a bit baggy, the uniform pretty much fit perfectly.

This came as a surprise to Harry, as the Dursleys were in the habit of buying him clothes that were at least five sizes too big, so they didn't have to waste money on new clothes when Harry grew. Quickly dismissing it, he picked up his suitcase and left his room.

On his way down to the car, he passed his Uncle Vernon helping Dudley finish packing. Dudley was throwing a tantrum, screaming about how he wanted to take the big TV, as apparently his own TV was too small. Harry rolled his eyes. Even at the age of seventeen, Dudley had never grown out of tantrums.

When he reached the car, he carefully placed his suitcase in the trunk. A sudden thought hit him and he swiftly ran back to his room and grabbed a backpack, quickly shoving inside a change of clothes, several pairs of underwear, his life-savings from before he lived with the Dursleys and a framed photograph of his parents.

Dudley had at least two suitcases, if not more and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that if the car was to run out of space, his suitcase would be the first to go. The bag was just to be prepared if worst came to worst and Harry had to go to a new school with nothing.

Harry made his way back down to the car, passing a sulking Dudley, who apparently had not got his way about the TV. Harry quietly approached the car and got in, his bag on his lap. Soon, a glowering Dudley, a smug Uncle Vernon and a harassed-looking Petunia emerged from the house, each one carrying a large suitcase. Harry watched as they began to load the cases into the boot, and sure enough they quickly ran out of space.

Vernon made eye contact with Harry, a nasty smile playing across his lips. He pulled Harry's case out of the car and threw it back into the house. Harry felt a flood of anger and resentment run through him, but immediately buried it down, just as he always did. It would be no use to shout at his uncle. That would not solve anything.

Vernon quickly finished loading Dudley's stuff and then got into the driver's seat of the car. Petunia and Dudley followed his lead and climbed into the car too. The upside was that Vernon's display of cruelness had apparently put him in a very good mood, which meant that he was unlikely to do anything else before Harry left. Chuckling softly to himself, Vernon started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

Finally they arrived at the train station. Harry exited the car and watched as Petunia began to lather Dudley in kisses as she said goodbye. Rolling his eyes, Harry grabbed his bag and decided to leave before they all started to get emotional. As he walked towards the train, he looked around, taking in the surroundings. The station was huge but it didn't take long to fine Platform 9. It was very busy. People were milling around, saying goodbye to families or trying to find their friends.

Taking a deep breath, Harry pushed his way to the train and at last made it aboard. He quickly found an empty cabin, towards the back of the train and sat down, looking out of the window. Harry didn't know how much time had passed but the crowd soon began to thin down as families left and students made their way onto the train.

A sudden clattering at the door startled Harry and snapped him out of his thoughts. He watched as three boys entered. They all stared at him for a minute and he stared back.

"Hey. Mind if we sit here?" One of them finally asked. He had bright red hair and was very freckly.

"Sure. Go ahead." Harry replied. The three sat down and stared at him even more. Harry cleared his throat awkwardly. He was starting to feel slightly paranoid and more than a little embarrassed. "Um. Is there something on my face, or something?" Harry asked nervously. This seemed to snap them all out of whatever little trance they had been in.

"Oh. Sorry. No, it's nothing. Just, well. I've been at this school for six years but for some reason I don't recognise you." The red-haired one said, causing Harry to blink. This boy seemed rather dense.

"Yeah, you wouldn't recognise me. I'm new here." Harry answered and the boy stared in surprise.

"New? Really? We hardly ever get new kids that aren't in year 7. What year are you in?" He asked.

"Year twelve." Harry replied, letting his eyes wander over the boys. The first one was very tall and muscled, with a shock of red hair and blue eyes. His entire face was covered in freckles. Harry's eyes moved along to the next boy. He had short brown hair and brown eyes which seemed to sparkle. Harry finally turned towards the last boy of the group. He was taller than Harry, but did not quite reach the height of the red-head. His hair was a very dark brown, almost black. It flopped down and half-covered one eye. His eyes were brown and intense and fixed determinedly on Harry, his gaze suspicious and guarded.

"Year twelve? Us too. I'm Seamus Finnigan by the way." The second boy with the sparkling eyes chirped happily. Harry grinned at him.

"Harry Potter." He introduced himself, shortly.

"I'm Ron Weasley." The red-head said and Harry's gaze fell once again onto the last boy. He was still staring intently, causing Harry to freeze, nervously. Had this boy even blinked since the last time he had looked? "That's Oliver Fielding. Don't mind him. He's not good with strangers." Ron reassured, quickly.

"Not good with strangers? He's not good with people full stop." Seamus laughed.

"You only say that because you have to find a friend in everyone you meet." Ron retorted, playfully. "I mean, you are even on alright terms with that slimy Malfoy!"

"Oh come on. He's not that bad." Seamus argued weakly.

"He is the devil." Was Ron's short but decisive answer.

"I admit that he is an arrogant asshole, but he is still-"

"Where is your suitcase?" Another voice interrupted the duo's argument and Harry blinked from the suddenness of it. The question was directed at him from Oliver. His voice was quiet but Harry could hear it perfectly.

"Uh, well, there wasn't really enough space in my uncle's car." Harry answered and Oliver stared.

"Why not?" He asked and Harry flushed in embarrassment at the blunt question.

"Well my cousin wanted to bring a lot of stuff with him, so what with his bags, there wasn't really enough room or my case... But, I did anticipate that something like this may happen and so I packed a back-up plan." Harry grinned, holding up his bag. Oliver continued to watch, his face emotionless.

"Uncle?" Oliver asked and Harry flushed, slightly. He could sense the 'why aren't you living with your parents' question coming up. It always did, everywhere he went and the response was always the same. An uncomfortable silence and sympathetic looks for the poor orphan boy. He hated it. He didn't need the sympathy. Now would be a good time to change the conversation topic.

"Yeah, my cousin starts here today too." Harry said, hoping that would spark conversation that wasn't directly about him.

"How come you aren't with him, if he starts today too?" Wow. This Oliver really had a talent for asking question that made Harry uncomfortable.

"We don't exactly get on very well. How long have you all been at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, trying again to change the subject. Ron and Seamus didn't seem to notice the sudden topic change and both opened their mouths to answer, but Oliver beat them to it.

"I've been here since first year. Why don't you get on?" Oliver apparently had noticed the shift in topic and had decided to change it back. Harry's eyes grew determined. Two could play at this game.

"We just never really have in all the years we have lived together. Since first year? That's a pretty long time. You like it here?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it's ok, I guess. How long have you lived together?" Oliver asked, the same determined look in his eyes.

"About four years. What's your favourite lesson then?" Harry asked. He couldn't lose now. Oliver opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted.

"What are you two talking about? I can't follow this conversation at all!" A very confused Ron said, with Seamus nodding in agreement in the background.

"I don't have a favourite lesson. Why did you move in with him?" Oliver continued, completely disregarding Ron's comment. Harry took one look at Ron's disgruntled face and Oliver's entirely serious one, as he totally ignored Ron's outrage, and burst out laughing. Ron and Seamus began to join in with his laughter and Oliver's lips quirked upwards suddenly, but his eyes remained fixed on Harry, cautiously.

"Dear God! Was that an almost-smile I just saw on Oliver?" A new voice exclaimed, loudly. Harry looked up to see a pair of identical twins standing in the doorway. They both had a shock of red hair like Ron's. There was no doubt that they were related to him.

"You warmed up to the new-kid pretty quick, huh?" Twin #2 said cheekily, his eyes twinkling in mirth.

"Yeah it took about three years for him to almost-smile at me!" Twin #1 said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

"You don't think...?" Twin #2 gasped, clasping a hand over his mouth in mock-surprise, looking over at his twin.

"Could it be...?" Twin #1 mimicked his action.

"Oliver is in love?" They both gushed, putting a hand over their hearts and fluttering their eyelashes. Harry stared in fascination at the twins. They were so full of energy. Oliver sent them a particularly dark glare, and they both chuckled nervously.

"We were just kidding Oliver... Just a joke..." They chorused.

"Fred, George – meet Harry Potter. He's the new-boy." Ron informed and the twins turned their gaze onto Harry. "Harry, these are my brothers, Fred and George. You'll get used to them... eventually." Ron continued. The twins broke into identical grins and sat on either side of Harry, chatting amiably to him.

"So how old are you two? Harry asked, curiously.

"We're eighteen." The twin on Harry's left answered.

"Hmph. They don't act like it." Ron muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What was that, brother dearest?" One twin (Fred?) said.

"We didn't quite catch it." The other (George?) continued. Their smiles both grew, identical twinkles in their eyes as they playfully tackled Ron to the ground.

"Ahh, brotherly love..." chuckled Seamus, his grin rivalling the Cheshire cat's.

End of Chapter One.

Okay, please let me know what you thought by leaving me a review. I know there wasn't much Malfoy in this chapter (if any...) but he should be making an appearance next chapter. By the way, I used the British school system since I don't understand the American one. Harry is in year twelve, which would be his first year of sixth form, making him 17 years old. Anyway I hope you liked it and please review. :)


End file.
